Women brings bow to gunfight

This is a discussion on Women brings bow to gunfight within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; This happened down the road from us. 2 Texas CHL shot her and stopped her. Ouch with getting shot by a bow....hopefully she did not ...

Witnesses told investigators Julie Parker, 30, came into the Texas Components Corp.. office in the 1600 block of West Sam Houston Parkway with a bow and arrow and what appeared to be a handgun about 3 p.m., said Houston Police Department Sgt. John Chomiak.

As she walked in, an employee spotted her and the two argued as he tried to keep her from moving farther into the building, Chomiak said.

During the confrontation, the gun, which authorities later determined was a fake weapon, fell to the floor. That’s when Parker shot Armando Silva, 55, in the chest with an arrow, Chomiak said.

The armed employees ran outside the office building, where they continued to shoot. She was struck an unknown number of times, Chomiak said. Witnesses at other nearby businesses took cover and called police.

Police arrived about 3:15 p.m. and were told the woman was hiding in one of the rooms inside the office building.

When officers found Parker, she was still armed with the bow and arrow, police said.

A police sergeant ordered the woman to drop the weapon several times, Chomiak said.

“She refused and wheeled around towards the officers,” Chomiak said.

The sergeant, a 23-year veteran of the department, then fired an unknown number shots at the woman, striking her, Chomiak said.

Emergency medical personnel took Parker, along with the man shot with the arrow, to Ben Taub General Hospital. Chomiak said she is in stable condition and Silva is expected to survive.

Investigators are still trying to determine the motive for the crime. Chomiak said the woman was not employed by the company, but her father, who was present during the attack, worked there. Police were interviewing the man late Monday. The owner of the company where the incident took place declined to comment.

Employees of other businesses in the strip center appeared stunned as officers investigated Monday evening.

Michael Barrera, who works at an optical company in the strip center, said employees had opened the door to enjoy the cool breeze that day.

“Next thing you know, we hear five or six gunshots,” the 44-year-old man said.

Minutes later, he saw police arrive and enter the building before hearing another hail of gunfire.

George Dustin, who owns a pool service company in the strip center, said he also heard several gunshots. Dustin said he saw paramedics bring out the woman as well as man with an arrow in his chest.

“They had to get a bolt cutter to get the arrow out and put him in the ambulance,” he said.

Chomiak said Parker could face charges of aggravated assault of a police officer along with additional charges for shooting the man with the arrow.

Chomiak said Parker could face charges of aggravated assault of a police officer along with additional charges for shooting the man with the arrow.

“It’s a very, very unusual, as well as chaotic, situation,” he said.

Can someone explain to me why in so many of these cases, the perp isn't charged with attempted murder? That seems to me to be a no-brainer. I know that the BGs often plead down, yet, in many of these situations and the resulting legal activities, even the charges brought against them are less than attempted murder.

To be sarcastic to the media. My sons shoot competative archery. Will I have to register all our bows? Do I have to replace all of our arrows with marked and tracible arrows? Why do they always call it a "BOW and ARROW"? Which one did she really hit the man with, the bow or arrow? The guy is very lucky she was not a PRO. A pro shooter could have shot him in the eye at 40 yards.

Bolt cutters to remove Arrow? Must have been an Aluminum arrow, they probably cut it off, not remove it. Reporters need to observe and investigate more before writing the story.

Aluminum, carbon fiber, carbon wrapped aluminum...

I used to shoot competitively as well. I am betting it was a recurve, not a compound (assault) bow, and probably very low draw weight (.22) if the arrow was still in the guy unless it (the arrow) managed to get lodged in the spine or sternum. Of course this is all presuming she was using field or target points (FMJ round nose) instead of the super deadly killer broadhead (insert your choice of SD hollow point here) tips, then there would be no question of a blow through or the guy was stuck to the wall.

Clearly wearing body armor as well as many times as she was shot by both employees and the LEOs

Grasseater // Grass~eat~er noun, often attributive \ˈgras-ē-tər\
A person who is incapable of independent thought; a person who is herd animal-like in behavior; one who cannot distinguish between right and wrong; a foolish person.See also Sheep

There is a prima facie appeal to their talking points when referring to an armed attack against an unarmed person (newspaper reports are what, 10:1 that compared to successful self defense?): they don't have to make much effort to spin it, the ignorant sheeple jump to the "right" conclusions automatically. When the assailant is unarmed they ignore disparity of force or other mitigating circumstances and flip out about an unarmed man being gunned down; when the assailant has a gun, they suggest that if he didn't have a gun, he wouldn't have attacked (my guns have never told me what to do, but I'm not a thief or murderer either). This type of story they are compelled to ignore because the facts won't fit into their narrative.